Your one stop place for up-to-the-minute fantasy baseball and fantasy football news along with analysis and rankings all year long. You wont find a better fantasy sports site anywhere. Also on Twitter at RotoBoss.

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

LIKE THE FANTASY SPORTS BOSS ON FACEBOOOK

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

2017 FANTASY BASEBALL SPRING TRAINING WRAPUP: MONDAY

-Neil Walker went 2-for-3 with a HR on Monday which was his third of the spring. Annually one of the more underrated hitters in fantasy baseball, Walker now has 3 home runs on the spring and most importantly is showing no ill effect from back surgery last summer. He is back in the top-12 fantasy baseball second baseman tier.

-Robert Gsellman pitched 3 scoreless innings for the Mets on Monday which was a timely outing after Seth Lugo almost no-hit a power-packed Venezuela lineup in the WBC. Gsellman is still considered the favorite to land the fifth spot in the Mets rotation and he does have the better strikeout stuff when it comes to fantasy baseball.

-Justin Bour hit his second spring home run on Monday but it came against Noah Syndegaard which carries some extra weight. I call Bour the new Adam Lind in terms of a slugger who is very valuable and cheap at the draft table but who can't hit lefties. As long as you are all right juggling Bour in and out of the lineup, he can be a very cheap source of 25 home runs this season.

-I will say now that I think Kendrys Morales could threaten 40 home runs with the Toronto Blue Jays this season in Rogers Center as the team's DH. Morales went 2-for-3 Monday with his second spring home runs and he will be right in the middle of the always powerful Blue Jays lineup. I own Morales in the Experts League so I am putting my money where my mouth is on this.

-Steven Wright looked good in his first spring outing as he tossed two hitless innings for the Boston Red Sox. Wright was limited to this point as he recovered from a shoulder injury but his outing reinforced how the knuckler was an All-Star last season. While he faded in the second half of 2016, Wright has the type of hard knuckler that put forth some big numbers from R.A. Dickey a few years back. I still would not want to get involved with a knuckleball pitcher but Wright is solid.

-J.A. Happ tossed four innings of one-run ball for the Blue Jays as he looks to show whether or not his big 2016 was a fluke or not. Happ was a guy who was a DO NOT DRAFT for me and I have no regrets on that stance as I think he is a 4.00-plus ERA pitcher who rose very good BABIP luck last season to post the numbers he did.

-Michael Wacha is having a nice spring as he gave up two runs in 5 innings on Monday against the Houston Astros. He has now struck out 11 batters in 13 spring innings as Wacha is showing good jump on his fastball but shoulder problems that sapped velocity from his stuff overall and I won't bother here.

-Jedd Gyorko hit his first spring home run on Monday and this after he smacked 30 a year ago for the Cardinals. The story remains the same here in terms of Gyorko having big power but with an ugly average and no speed. You don't want that outside of using Gyorko as a versatile bench piece.

-Justin Verlander mowed down the Washington Nationals on Monday as he gave up just a bunt single in 4.2 scoreless innings while striking out four. Verlander only walked one and was completely on his game. I still believer Verlander will see his ERA rise this season as he got more than a little BABIP help a year ago and his HR/9 rate shot way up. If the price is right I would buy but I don't want Verlander as my fantasy baseball ace.

-Stephen Strasburg was good Monday as he gave up just two runs in four innings while striking out five Detroit Tigers. It is always an adventure owning Strasburg given his serious injuries and he is pitching with a tear in his elbow which means surgery could follow any one pitch. Also with an ERA in the mid-3.00 range each of the last two seasons, Strasburg is quite overrated.

-Tyler Glasnow will likely be heading to the minors soon as he has been blasted this spring outside of his big first outing. Glasnow surrendered 5 ER in just 2.2 IP and is clearly not ready yet.

-Albert Pujols hit his first spring home run Monday and he appears to be having no issues in his return from December foot surgery. While we all know Pujols is older than dirt, he is still holding his power and can serve as your UTIL or CI bat for at least one more season.

-Kenta Maeda was racking up the K's Monday as he struck out 7 Los Angeles Angels batters in his 3.2 innings. Maeda was not known as a big K guy in Japan but since coming to the States he has been very good in that category. The breakdown rate of pitchers coming from Japan is very high and we already know Maeda's elbow is not totally sound but until then he can be a very good SP 2.